The Wannabe Pirates

[largento]

Oh, and here's how Sneeze ended up yesterday...

 

[Rodney]

Very nice. I love Cutthroat Jacques.

 

The scale looks a bit odd though. Not the height but the size of his head and hands etc in relationship to Flemm. I suppose its not unreasonable that he would be larger than life but something looks a bit off to me. Perhaps if you scaled his feet and hands down a bit(tapering in a little as you go of course) that would tell the tale. Hope I'm making sense.

[largento]

Very nice. I love Cutthroat Jacques.

 

The scale looks a bit odd though. Not the height but the size of his head and hands etc in relationship to Flemm. I suppose its not unreasonable that he would be larger than life but something looks a bit off to me. Perhaps if you scaled his feet and hands down a bit(tapering in a little as you go of course) that would tell the tale. Hope I'm making sense.

 

Thanks, Rodney.

 

The scale is definitely intentional. Cutthroat is a menacing villain and I want Flemm to appear "small" next to him. An image that has stuck with me since I was a kid was Roger Moore's James Bond fighting "Jaws" in the 70s and at one point Jaws puts his hand over Bond's face and practically palms his whole head. That amazed me and it's exactly what I was thinking about when I enlarged the hands. The contrast really makes the villain seem more of a threat.

 

Did make a slight update to Cutthroat, though... McCrary suggested adding a gold trim to the hat:

 

[KenH]

Funniest character yet! Good progress.

[Rodney]

The scale is definitely intentional. Cutthroat is a menacing villain and I want Flemm to appear "small" next to him. An image that has stuck with me since I was a kid was Roger Moore's James Bond fighting "Jaws" in the 70s and at one point Jaws puts his hand over Bond's face and practically palms his whole head. That amazed me and it's exactly what I was thinking about when I enlarged the hands. The contrast really makes the villain seem more of a threat.

 

Seeing them just in the T poses and not in context of a scene has me at a disadvantage.

The feeling I got was similar to your explanation though... that this guy is larger than life. Much much larger than life... so consider that a success.

 

The word grotesque is used here often to describe such characters but is often misunderstood to mean ugly... Cutthroat is definitely not ugly.. he's got great appeal! Jaws from the bond movies was both ugly and appealing of course. He was great fun to look at and as I understand it has a great many fans. I percieve that Cutthroat is going to have a whole lot of fans too.

 

He's my favorite character thus far... I always love to hate those badguys.

 

I assume McCrary is drawing him at similar scale (I love his strip BTW!).

You've got the right idea just wanted a little more info on the scale. I'm happy to see you've got that angle covered. Once we see him in actual poses and in his environment it'll all make perfect sense.

 

As always I look forward to your next update.

[largento]

Thanks, Ken!

 

Seeing them just in the T poses and not in context of a scene has me at a disadvantage.

The feeling I got was similar to your explanation though... that this guy is larger than life. Much much larger than life... so consider that a success.

 

The word grotesque is used here often to describe such characters but is often misunderstood to mean ugly... Cutthroat is definitely not ugly.. he's got great appeal! Jaws from the bond movies was both ugly and appealing of course. He was great fun to look at and as I understand it has a great many fans. I percieve that Cutthroat is going to have a whole lot of fans too.

 

There has certainly been a long tradition of this sort of thing in cartoons: Black Pete, Bluto, The Crusher, etc. so I'm not exactly breaking new ground here. :-) You're right about the stiffness and lifelessness of T-poses.

 

It's been pointed out that at Warner Bros, there was a difference of opinion on Bugs Bunny villains. Chuck Jones preferred the big dumb galoots, while Friz Freling liked them to be short little mean cusses. I like both, but with there being a level of adventure (and therefore some danger) in this, I've always liked having the hero be the little guy winning out over the big bully.

 

He's my favorite character thus far... I always love to hate those badguys.

 

Thanks, Rodney! I think he's my favorite so far, too.

 

I assume McCrary is drawing him at similar scale (I love his strip BTW!).

You've got the right idea just wanted a little more info on the scale. I'm happy to see you've got that angle covered. Once we see him in actual poses and in his environment it'll all make perfect sense.

 

I would expect McCrary to do so, yes and I'll pass on the complement. We're not going to start really promoting the site until we've got 20 strips up, so right now we're not really getting any feedback.

[largento]

 

Modeled the Storyteller's body. (He's always sitting in the movie, so I modeled him in a sitting position complete with his chair (means less work when I get to the rigging). :-)

 

I should be finishing a lot of things in this coming month. Last Friday was Leap Day and I decided to take a leap, so I went into work and arranged it so that I could take a month-long sabbatical to work on this.

 

I work through Friday and then I don't go back to work until April 9th!

 

I'm really excited about it and can't wait to see how much I can get done working on it full time for the month!

[largento]

 

And here's Poco Boco!

 

Tomorrow's the first day of my month-long sabbatical and I plan to start off by rigging all of the people characters (Henrietta, Cutthroat, Sneeze, Storyteller & Poco).

 

I have high hopes that working on nothing else, I'll be able to finish doing that in the first week. I am bigtime jazzed about having that chore finished! :-)

 

After that there are still a couple of more non-people characters to model and rig ...and of course, more locations and props.

 

This will feel like a huge accomplishment, though. I'm hoping to get all of the storyboarding done in week 2, but that's getting ahead of myself.

[largento]

To mark the event, here's a group shot!

 

[agep]

Very nice!

[NancyGormezano]

great characters!

[largento]

Thanks for the kind words, Stian & Nancy!

[ChuckGram]

All your efforts really show here. These charecters are really neat! Have you got people to voice them yet?

[largento]

Thanks!

 

Right now the plan is to use the people who played the characters in my friend's movie for the voices.

 

Most of them are in Kentucky, so I'm thinking I'm going to end up flying out there at some point and renting studio time to record them.

[Eric2575]

Fantastic work! Is Stian also modeling the second ship? If not, I would take a shot at it, so to speak. I've been wanting to model a Pirate ship for some time, and will do so, but it will not be cartooney. When I first looked at Cutthroat, I thought he looked a bit too clean, more like an office manager you never wanted to meet, but not like a fierce, dirty pirate. Perhaps a beard, or at least 6 o'clock shadow?

[largento]

Thanks, Eric!

 

I haven't done any of the full uv-decaling for the characters yet. Flemm, Storyteller and Cutthroat all have a five o'clock shadow (see the original 2D versions on page 1 of this thread.) Cutthroat's is very distinctive and a big part of his look. That's something I've been putting off until after all the rigging and CP-weighting is completed, though.

 

I haven't made any decisions on the second ship yet. It plays such a minor part, that I'm not sure I want to invest in a full model. What I do know about it is that it is very stylized (and as you say cartoony), so it probably wouldn't be what you are looking to do. It's not a traditional pirate ship at all. I've got a mental picture of sort of how it looks, but I haven't sat down to do the design yet.

 

My goal is to move into storyboarding after I finish this rigging and that will give me a solid idea of how much (or little) of the 2nd ship I'll actually need (as well as the other props and sets.)

[Nuba X]

To mark the event, here's a group shot!

 

This is some EXCELLENT Work!

 

Kepp it up!

[largento]

Thanks, Nuba!

 

Well, a little bit of a shaky start to my working sabbatical. After some discussions in another thread about the fact that The Setup Machine still worked in A:M, I decided to order it and got it in and up and running on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, that meant abandoning the work that I'd done on Monday-Wednesday, but I think it's worth it.

 

I think in the end, it'll still go faster and there's no question that it's a nicer rig than the one I was creating.

 

Here's the first character rigged with it, Mr. Sneeze:

 

 

I started working on Poco Boco last night and was very impressed that it was able to handle his stooping posture with no apparent problems.

 

Unfortunately, everything's going on hold today. My grandmother passed away late last night and I'm driving with my sister and her family home tomorrow morning and won't be back until late Tuesday.

 

Hopefully, I'll be able to jump right back into this and finally get them all finished!

[Paul Forwood]

You are doing so well on this project and watching your progress is a real treat.

 

Sorry to hear about your grandmother, Mark. I hope that she had a long and happy life. Peace to you and your family.

[largento]

You are doing so well on this project and watching your progress is a real treat.

 

Sorry to hear about your grandmother, Mark. I hope that she had a long and happy life. Peace to you and your family.

 

Thanks, Paul. She's been ill for some time, so there is at least the relief that her suffering has ended.

[Kamikaze]

WOW! this is super cool!! love the models. I can just feel their personalities.... Keep eR up........

[animation man hi]

Could you give us a video or written tutorial on how you modeled fleem

[largento]

WOW! this is super cool!! love the models. I can just feel their personalities.... Keep eR up........

 

Thanks!

 

Could you give us a video or written tutorial on how you modeled fleem

 

The key for me was Barry Zundel's training disks. Do a search for his animation training disks. Now he has them available as individual movies that you can download. I basically do it exactly the same way he shows in the modeling tutorials.

 

They made a big difference for me.

[Gerry]

Just checking in here for the first time in a few weeks. Great work! This is all coming along beautifully!

 

I'm curious though why you went with TSM instead of the Squetch Rig? I take it the TSM install is more automated in some respects?

[Howitzer]

Just checking in here for the first time in a few weeks. Great work! This is all coming along beautifully!

 

I'm curious though why you went with TSM instead of the Squetch Rig? I take it the TSM install is more automated in some respects?

 

Awesome work you've got here. I like your characters, this is going to be a sweet film.

[largento]

Thanks, Gerry & Howitzer!

 

I'm curious though why you went with TSM instead of the Squetch Rig? I take it the TSM install is more automated in some respects?

 

Basically that, Gerry. Everyone seemed to recommend it highly. I more or less ordered it just to see if it would be easier to install. I wasn't able to try it in the beginning (with the Mac version being so out-of-date), but since I've put Windows XP on my iMac, I could. The TSM install does seem to be much simpler right now and I'm in a hurry to get things moving along.

[animation man hi]

Did you use his first or second video.

[largento]

Did you use his first or second video.

 

I bought all 3 DVDs. The first one covers the interface and modeling a character. I think it's broken up into several individual movies to download if you go through his Lulu store.

[Eric2575]

I have TSMII and have never been able to get it working right in XP. Did you get it to work right out of the box, or did you find some reference for it? I'm prolly just to dumber.

[largento]

I have TSMII and have never been able to get it working right in XP. Did you get it to work right out of the box, or did you find some reference for it? I'm prolly just to dumber.

 

TSM2 is the one I bought and I was able to get it to work without a problem. I am using it in Windows XP running in Parallels on my iMac. (Using v 15 of A:M) I am going back and forth between the Windows version of A:M and the Mac version of A:M and it is working fine. Actually better than I expected.

 

The only reference I used was the information that came with the software on the CD.

[largento]

Some progress...

 

I've installed the rigs into Poco Boco...

 

 

and Cutthroat Jacques...

 

 

Doing some polishing up on the CP weighting for Cutthroat and still haven't given him an inside of his mouth yet.

 

Once I've finished installing all of the rigs, I'll move to the facial poses.

 

Not moving along as quickly as I'd hoped...

[animation man hi]

I just bought one of the videos on modeling and it downloaded but quicktime said the video can't be recognized so i'm trying to download it again but it is not working why is this.

[largento]

I just bought one of the videos on modeling and it downloaded but quicktime said the video can't be recognized so i'm trying to download it again but it is not working why is this.

 

I don't know. The DVDs used a different codec. There's a link to contact Barry on the Lulu store page, you might ask him if there's something specific you need.

[animation man hi]

If i already downloaded it can i still get the dvd.

[animation man hi]

and if i can how do i get it.

[largento]

I'm just a customer like you are. Barry's the one to ask these questions to.

[animation man hi]

Ok thanks anyway.

[Phil]

Do you have the Techsmith Codec installed ? He has a link on his site to it

[largento]

A bit more progress! Put the rig into the Storyteller:

 

 

That just leaves Henrietta. Then I'll go back and start building all the facial poses.

 

For fun, I played around with the characters yesterday:

 

[largento]

 

And here's Henrietta!

 

Now I've got to go in and do all the facial poses for these characters.

[jirard]

Nice stuff Largento! Your making good progress.

[largento]

Nice stuff Largento! Your making good progress.

 

Thanks, Jirard! I sometimes wonder if I am. I had high hopes with this month-long sabbatical from work, but it looks like I'm just barely going to be able to accomplish finishing up the six characters. It's a lot of work, more work than I was counting on. Still, it'll be a pretty major accomplishment for me, so that's something!

 

We're slowly building up stuff. The webcomic is about to finish it's 2nd month already and McCrary sent me the art for the 40th webcomic yesterday.

 

Just have to keep moving forward!

 

[mouseman]

Largento, this is an amazing project. You say that you don't see as much progress as you wanted. However, from my point of view, you are doing some incredible stuff, and a lot of it! We all know how much work it is to do something that is both interesting and visually appealing. You're doing it! And I think everyone here appreciates being able to follow your progress and understands the amount of work that you are putting into it!

 

ETA: You might be amused to listen to a song called "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate".

[JohnArtbox]

Great project largento. The characters look fantastic and the amount of work is truly impressive

[largento]

Largento, this is an amazing project. You say that you don't see as much progress as you wanted. However, from my point of view, you are doing some incredible stuff, and a lot of it! We all know how much work it is to do something that is both interesting and visually appealing. You're doing it! And I think everyone here appreciates being able to follow your progress and understands the amount of work that you are putting into it!

 

ETA: You might be amused to listen to a song called "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate".

 

Thanks, Chris! That means a lot! That's something the folks around me aren't aware of (heck, I'm still finding it out myself) and they tend to ask "Are you done yet?" or "When will it be done?" everytime I show anything to them. :-)

 

I'm nearing the end of the month-long sabbatical I took from work and I had lunch with some co-workers on Friday who didn't quite understand that I wasn't able to finish the whole movie in this time. Trying to talk about rigging and CP weighting came out as "blah blah blah. blah blah blah-blah-blah" to them. :-)

 

I searched out "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" and heard it for the first time yesterday (and then a bunch of times.) I'm probably missing out on a level of inside jokes with the Canada-specific stuff, but it's still pretty funny just with the idea of the farmer pirate being called "Tractor Jack." Especially the gag about the Mountie having to chase him on the shore, because he didn't have a boat. :-)

 

Great project largento. The characters look fantastic and the amount of work is truly impressive

 

Thanks, John! Your stuff is always incredible and I love your style.

 

Thanks for the boost, guys! I needed it!

[Gerry]

Trying to talk about rigging and CP weighting came out as "blah blah blah. blah blah blah-blah-blah" to them.

Yeah, I have to be careful about talking to my friends about my work. If you try to describe what you're REALLY doing their eyes glaze over in a heartbeat. Keep it simple, like "...so I made his pants BLUE!"

 

Great work by the way!

[largento]

Thanks, Gerry!

 

By way of introducing the 3D versions of the characters on the website, I've been doing these little renders of them with standees of the original 2D character designs. It's been interesting seeing how much the characters have changed and how much translated:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poco Boco finally makes his first appearance in today's strip. Cutthroat won't be introduced for quite some time and Henrietta even longer than that.

 

 

As I've been updating the models with new facial poses, I've been updating my desktop image. Here's a smaller version of it:

 

[johnl3d]

Great characters wish I had the talent and focus to do something like this

[KenH]

Yeah, these guys are really turning in to a worth while project. Maybe you answered somewhere before, but are they for a short? Is there a script yet?

[largento]

Great characters wish I had the talent and focus to do something like this

 

Thanks, John! Focus is definitely a big part of it. Whenever I think of the big picture, I feel overwhelmed. There are just so many things to do. But if I just concentrate on what I need to do right that second, it's more manageable.

 

Yeah, these guys are really turning in to a worth while project. Maybe you answered somewhere before, but are they for a short? Is there a script yet?

 

Thanks, Ken. Yes, it's a sort of long short. The idea is to do a series of these mini-movies. The webcomic is meant to compliment the movies and provide the audience with content during the lengthy production times between cartoons.

 

I wrote the script back in November, but haven't yet storyboarded it. That's the next step once I finish these guys out. I need to really have that done and figured out before I start worrying too much about building the set pieces.

 

I probably won't have much to show for awhile, since I'm going to keep the story secret, so as not to spoil the cartoon.